Super League Round 20: 2009

[DIEHARD]

Wigan Warriors v Catalans Dragons
Friday 10th July 2009, JJB Stadium

V

Match Official: B Thaler

Wigan Warriors squad

Roberts, Goulding, Carmont, Richards, Leuluai, Fielden, Riddell, Paleaaesina, Bailey, J. Tomkins, Coley, Hansen, Prescott, Pryce, Phelps, Gleeson, Mossop, S. Tomkins, Flanagan.

Catalans Dragons squad

Baile, Bell, Bird, Bosc, Casty, Croker, Elima, Fakir, Ferriol, Gossard, Greenshields, Guisset, Martins, McGuire, Mogg, Mounis, Pelo, Perry, Ryles.

Preview

Wigan Warriors are without loose forward Sean O?Loughlin and hooker Mike McIlorum, who sustained knee injuries in last week?s win over Harlequins RL, but second rower Harrison Hansen is set to continue after x-rays cleared him of a broken hand.

Back rower Lee Mossop and centre Darrell Goulding are also in the squad after being recalled from loan spells at Huddersfield Giants and Salford Reds respectively.

Catalans Dragons hope to have skipper Greg Bird back after a month?s absence in Australia for court hearings and second rower Jamal Fakir returns from a two-match suspension but utility forward Dane Carlaw has failed to recover from a torn thigh muscle.

Wakefield Wildcats v Leeds Rhinos
Friday 10th July 2009 - Belle Vue

V

Match Official: S Ganson

Wakefield Wildcats squad

Blaymire, Atkins, Peterson, Brough, Demetriou, Drew, Snitch, Wilkes, Grix, Obst , Stosic, Bibey, Henderson, Gleeson, Leo-Latu, Korkidas, Ferguson, Moore, Murphy.

Leeds Rhinos squad

Webb, Donald, Smith, Senior, Hall, McGuire, Burrow, Leuluai, Buderus, Pea****, Jones-Buchanan, Lauitiiti, Sinfield, Diskin, Ablett, Burgess, Gibson, Worrall, Ratu.

Preview

Wakefield Wildcats coach John Kear makes two changes to the side that lost at Huddersfield, with hooker Brad Drew returning from a rib injury and back row forward Kevin Henderson recalled at the expense of Frank Winterstein. Scott Grix is set to switch to stand-off in place of Tony Martin, who has a shoulder injury.

Leeds Rhinos are boosted by the return of full-back Brent Webb and stand-off Danny McGuire, who missed Saturday?s win at Hull with neck and knee injuries respectively. Youngster Mike Ratu keeps his place in the squad after making only his second first-team appearance.

[DIEHARD]

Celtic Crusaders v Salford City Reds
Saturday 11th July 2009Brewery Field

Match Official: P Bentham

Celtic Crusaders squad

Beasley, Blackwood, Bryant, Budworth, Flower, Chan, Dalle Cort, Dyer, Van Dijk, Chalk, Lennon, J. James, Lupton, O'Hara, Tyrer, Quinn, Smith, Peek, Withers.

Salford City Reds squad

Wilshere, Henry, Littler, Turner, McGilvray, Smith, Ratchford, Cashmere, Alker, Stapleton, Adamson, Sidlow, Swain, Paul, Walton, Leuluai, Jewitt, Thornley, Myler.

Preview

Celtic Crusaders and Salford Reds have announced their 19-man squads for the engage Super League clash on Saturday.

Harlequins RL v Huddersfield Giants
Saturday 11th July 2009, Twickenham Stoop Stadium

V

Match Official: T Alibert

Harlequins RL squad

Clubb, Gafa, Gale, Esders, Grayshon, Haggerty, Heckenberg, Kaye, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Melling, O'Callaghan, Orr, Randall, Robinson, Sharp, Temata, Ward, Wells, Williamson.

Huddersfield Giants squad

B. Hodgson, Aspinwall, Brown, Whaturia, D. Hodgson, Fulton, Robinson, Crabtree, Faiumu, D. Griffin, Wild, Finnigan, P. Jackson, Mason, Lawrence, Moore, Cudjoe, Lunt, Sculthorpe.

[DIEHARD]

Warrington Wolves v St. Helens
Saturday 11th July 2009, Halliwell Jones Stadium

V

Match Official: R Silverwood

Warrington Wolves squad

L. Anderson, V. Anderson, Bridge, Briers, Carney, Carvell, Clarke, Cooper, Grix, Harrison, Hicks, Johnson, King, Mathers, Monaghan, Morley, Riley, Westwood, Wood.

St. Helens squad

Wellens, Gardner, Meli, Pryce, Graham, Gilmour, Wilkin, Flannery, Roby, Hargreaves, Puletua, Clough, Eastmond, Dean, Wheeler, Fa'asavalu, Dixon, Ashurst, Lomax.

Hull Kingston Rovers v Bradford Bulls
Sunday 12th July 2009, Craven Park

V

Match Official: I Smith

Hull Kingston Rovers squad

Briscoe, Fox, Welham, Webster, Colbon, Cooke, Dobson, Vella, Fisher, Wheeldon, Newton, Galea, Murrell, Lovegrove, Fitzhenry, Walker, Fozzard, Bibb, I'Anson.

Bradford Bulls squad

Sykes, Langley, Sheriffe, Burgess, Donaldson, Scruton, Menzies, Newton, Godwin, Cook, Halley, Nero, Lynch, Kopczak, Jeffries, Tadulala, Worrincy, Platt, Deacon.

[DIEHARD]

Castleford Tigers v Hull FC
Sunday 12th July 2009, The Jungle

V

Match Official: J Leahy

Castleford Tigers squad

Owen, Dixon, Shenton, Wainwright, Chase, Sherwin, Sargent, Hudson, Huby, Ferres, Clayton, Westerman, Jones, Higgins, Feather, Boyle, Netherton, McGoldrick, Widders.

Hull FC squad

Berrigan, Broughton, Burnett, Cordova, Houghton, G. Horne, R. Horne, Hodgson, King, Lee, Maloney, Manu, Moa, Radford, Raynor, Tickle, Thorman, Whiting, Yeaman.

[DIEHARD]

Wakefield v Leeds

Wakefield can call on hooker Brad Drew, who has recovered from a rib injury, while back-row forward Kevin Henderson is set to replace Frank Winterstein.

Scott Grix is likely to switch to stand-off in place of Tony Martin, who has a shoulder injury.

Leeds are boosted by the return of full-back Brent Webb (neck) and stand-off Danny McGuire (knee).

Mike Ratu keeps his place in the squad after making his second first-team appearance in Saturday's win at Hull.

Wigan v Catalans Dragons

Wigan forward Sean O'Loughlin and hooker Mike McIlorum are both ruled out with knee injuries.

Second-rower Harrison Hansen has been given the all-clear after a hand injury while back-rower Lee Mossop and centre Darrell Goulding are also in the squad.

The Dragons hope to have captain Greg Bird back after a month's absence in Australia for court hearings.

Second-rower Jamal Fakir returns from a two-match suspension but utility forward Dane Carlaw is out (thigh).

Source: BBC

[DIEHARD]

WIGAN HOLD OFF CATALANS FIGHTBACK

Wigan Warriors held off a tremendous fightback from the Catalans Dragons to secure a precious 24-22 victory that consolidates their place in the top eight and virtually ends the Dragons' hopes of a place in the engage Super League play-offs.

Man of the match Pat Richards contributed two of the Warriors' five tries but the clinching score came from centre Darrell Goulding, who celebrated his return to the club in style with the winner eight minutes from the end.

The Dragons had twice come from behind to take the lead and were 22-14 ahead when winger Dimitri Pelo scored a wonder try on the hour but Wigan took advantage of a tiring defence to touch down twice in the last 15 minutes.

The Dragons were hit by adversity before kick-off when stand-off Adam Mogg was a late withdrawal, forcing Greg Bird into the starting line-up just hours after stepping off the plane from Australia.

Wigan, led for the first time by Phil Bailey in the absence of regular captain Sean O'Loughlin, showed their danger after four minutes when Richards had a try disallowed for a forward pass.

A succession of penalties, two conceded by David Ferriol for high tackles and another by Jason Ryles for a flop, enabled the home side to build pressure and it paid off on 22 minutes with the game's first try.

Full-back Cameron Phelps got the ball out of a two-man tackle to Thomas Leuluai and he got the supporting George Carmont crashing over.

The visitors never got the chance to recover from the blow with Wigan quickly adding a second score.

Full-back Clint Greenshields was penalised for disputing referee Ben Thaler's decision to award a knock-on, claiming that the ball struck his arm, and he was still seething when Richards took Leuluai's long pass to cross for his side's second try moments later.

Richards kicked his first conversion to make it 10-0 and Greenshields was sent to the sin bin for continuing his rant.

It could have gone disastrously wrong for the French side at that stage but the adversity merely served to inspire them and they took the lead with two tries in five minutes just before the break.

Bell crossed at the right corner after good work from Jason Croker and then Pelo's burst on the other flank got second rower Olivier Elima over.

In between the tries, Wigan were reduced to 12 men when Leuluai was sin-binned for showing dissent to a touchjudge and the Catalans had the man advantage when they scored their second touchdown.

Thomas Bosc demonstrated his unerring accuracy with the boot by landing both conversions from wide to edge his side into a 12-10 lead.

Wigan were quickly back on the offensive in the second half and they were back in front within seven minutes of the resumption when neat handling by Goulding - back in the side following his recall from Salford City Reds - got winger Amos Roberts over for a third try.

Richards was once more off target with the goalkick and the misses began to look costly when Catalans hit back with their third try almost straight away.

Bird won the race to Bosc's cleverly-judged grubber kick and the scrum half kicked his third goal to put his side 18-14 ahead.

Wigan could sense it was not going to be their day when an unmarked Richards collected Leuluai's kick to the corner but dropped the ball diving over the line.

The Catalans demonstrated far superior finishing on the hour when centre Jean-Philippe Baile wriggled free from his would-be tacklers and Pelo produced a wonderful pick-up to score.

Bosc lost his 100% record with the boot and the Dragons' lead was cut to just two points on 65 minutes when Wigan once more exposed a shortage of numbers on their opponents' right with Phelps getting Richards over for his second converted try.

There were clear signs of fatigue setting in among the visitors' ranks and Wigan took full advantage when Phelps produced another superbly-timed pass to get Goulding over for the winner.

Source: wigan warriors

[DIEHARD]

Wakefield 30-32 Leeds

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Scott Donald's last-minute try broke Wakefield's hearts as the Rhinos claimed a dramatic win at Belle Vue.

The champions looked down and out when the Wildcats took a 30-16 lead midway through the second half with Danny Brough's kicking proving crucial.

Ali Lauitiiti's try helped cut the gap but a 70th-minute yellow card for Brent Webb seemed to have ended Leeds' hopes.

The champions refused to give up and Rob Burrow cut the gap to two points before Donald's remarkable late score.

The Wildcats looked set to secure their first-ever home Super League win over their West Yorkshire rivals after an inspired performance and going into the final moments they still held a 30-28 advantage.

But Leeds' never-say-die attitude proved to be just enough to get them out of trouble and keep them level with league leaders St Helens on 30 points.

The Wildcats fell behind after six minutes when Danny McGuire, back after injury, created space to find Carl Ablett on the right wing and he passed inside to Jamie Jones-Buchanan to race clear and score.

Kevin Sinfield added the extras but in the 21st minute, Wakefield drew level when Matt Blaymire grounded a kick from Sam Obst.

For 80 minutes nothing else mattered: the wretched week I've had at work had gone, all that mattered was what was happening on the pitch. Amazing that's why I love this game!

Brough kicked the conversion to make it 6-6 before adding two penalties as a fired-up Wakefield tore into Leeds.

Leeds hit back on the half-hour when Keith Senior used his strength to cross but Sinfield failed to convert and Wakefield went ahead again shortly before half-time when Obst scampered through a gap to touch down.

Burrow dived over in the corner just after the break to get Leeds right back into the game and Sinfield added the conversion but Wakefield edged 18-16 in front minutes thanks to a Brough penalty.

Brough's high kicks then set up scores for both Scott Grix and Ryan Atkins and a famous win looked on the cards after he converted both scores.

But Leeds hit back in the 65th minute when Lauitiiti waltzed through for a fine score and Sinfield added the extras.

The Rhinos were dealt a blow four minutes later when Webb was shown a yellow card for holding down, and Wakefield turned down several potential shots at goal in search of a try to put the result beyond doubt.

Leeds took full advantage of the reprieve as tries from Burrow, converted by Lee Smith, and Donald - in the last play of the match - sealed the win.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Wakefield coach John Kear:

"We gave ourselves a great opportunity and were eight points up with three minutes left.

"We shouldn't have come out of the wrong scoreline but we did and we must give credit to Leeds.

"We all feel as though we should have won but it's how we respond now."

Leeds coach Brian McClennan:

"I wasn't nervous but it was a great comeback and it gives us something to feel proud of.

"I never felt the game was over and all credit to the guys for keeping going right to the end.

"We feel for Wakefield, of course, and it's a horrible place for them to be right now.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wakefield: Blaymire, Grix, Gleeson, Atkins, Peterson, Demetriou, Brough, Bibey, Obst, Korkidas, Snitch, Wilkes, Leo-Latu.
Replacements: Stosic, Moore, Ferguson, Drew.

Leeds: Webb, Donald, Smith, Senior, Hall, McGuire, Burrow, Leuluai, Buderus, Jones-Buchanan, Lauitiiti, Ablett, Sinfield.
Replacements: Diskin, Worrall, Pea****, Burgess.

Referee: S Ganson (St Helens)

Source: BBC

[DIEHARD]

CELTIC MAKE IT THREE WINS FOR THE SEASON

Celtic Crusaders gave themselves the slightest chance of finishing off the bottom rung of the engage Super League ladder with a superb 25-12 victory over Salford City Reds at Brewery Field.

On the day former Salford and Wales legend David Watkins was made president of the Crusaders, this was a day the Welshmen had waited for since February.

However, it looked to be going the same way as the other games when Luke Adamson grabbed a try after two minutes before centre Stuart Littler made it 12-0, with full-back John Wilshere converting both touchdowns.

From somewhere, though, the Crusaders found some inner strength and began an outstanding comeback on 20 minutes when centre Marshall Chalk took a high ball on the sixth tackle on the Salford 25-yard line and raced over in the corner.

Wing Anthony Blackwood grabbed a try in the corner nine minutes later after a pass on the left in the Salford danger zone which full-back Damien Quinn, who had landed Chalk's conversion, booted as well.

That levelled matters and the Crusaders were soon in the lead. A drive upfield saw hooker Lincoln Withers dive in under some bodies from a few yards with Quinn's conversion simple.

The crowd, who have had little to cheer all season, were profoundly vocal and Salford looked decidedly unsettled for the rest of the game.

Shaun McRae's men had a number of chances to score but dropped the ball and made numerous errors as the pressure to score mounted.

Stand-off Matt Smith grabbed a fourth touchdown of the match which Quinn converted to give the Crusaders a 10-point lead.

And, from there, Salford lost control of the ball, gave away lots of penalties and were not really at the races.

A final Smith drop-goal in the 80th minute was just the finishing touch.

Source: http://www.superleague.co.uk

[DIEHARD]

Well done to Celtic! Getting that elusive home victory. Just what the club and fans needed. I'm delighted. Go Crusaders!